Just Another American Francophile

Month: September 2012

I participated in the lupus walk two weekends ago with my younger sister, roommate, and friend, but I’ve been completely blown over by how many people have donated to our team!

My roommate found out that before Benlysta was approved for lupus last year, there hadn’t been any new drugs for lupus in 56 years. You know what’s happened in that time frame? Vaccinations for polio, chicken pox and meningitis have been developed. We’ve cloned sheep and transplanted hearts and livers. (And by “we,” I mean people who are actually good at Biology. Although I was there in spirit.) We’ve created embryonic stem cells out of human skin cells. Al Gore invented the Internet.

And yet they couldn’t even approve one drug for lupus.

Rocio thought this was completely ridiculous, so she went online, found a lupus walk taking place in our area the next week, and signed us up.

Shelbey (middle), Rocio (right), and I pause for a breather during the (extremely intense) walk.Sisters casually posing in front of a bunch of tall buildings.

Rocio, Meeting Planner Extraordinaire, is dying to get on the committee for next year. She was already sprouting ideas for next year as we were on the walk. (It’s an occupational hazard. We tend to do this at every event we attend.)

I was surprised by how many people showed up! There were so many volunteers. It was really heartening to see so much support for everyone. Everyone was there because they are people who are either living with the disease or the friends and family of someone with the disease- which is just astounding. It really puts into perspective how many people lupus affects. You could feel the love throughout the day.

Speaking of feeling the love, I really appreciate all the support everyone has given our team. To date, you’ve helped us raise over $1,000! I knew I had supportive family and friends, but you’re all fabulous for coming through on such short notice. I was just expecting to walk with Rocio for fun, but you all turned it into so much more and it makes me feel blessed to have you. I love you all!

As a thank you, here’s a dog that went around the walk wearing butterfly wings:

If anyone were to ever go through the comments on each of my individual posts, they’d find that one person has commented more than everyone else combined: my cousin, Connor. If it wasn’t for his encouragement, I probably would have stopped this blog a year ago, but I can always count on a positive comment from him.

Today is Connor’s birthday, and he’s a truly fabulous individual, so he’s getting his own featured post.

Connor’s actually a movie star. He was in in a documentary called The Long Green Line, which featured him as a runner with cerebral palsy. This kid can run circles around me, and I’ve always been extremely impressed that he doesn’t let illness or any physical disability stop him from achieving his goals. As a person with illness and the occasional physical disability, I look up to Connor.

He always has a smile on his face, and he’s the friendliest guy I know. He can talk to anyone, anywhere.

As an expert procrastinator, I love to look at motivational quotes. These quotes never motivate me, but I feel like finding them is me being extremely productive. Oprah has kindly dedicated her entire website to “You can do it!” articles.

I recently found one with happiness quotes, and was all for it until I saw this:

Nothing quite says the weekend like a batch of pancakes. I snuck out of my apartment this morning before anyone had woken up (in the rain) to get some produce from the farmers’ market across the street. (I’m so spoiled.)

Of course, I took a picture of my food. I’ve downloaded Instagram, and as far as I can tell, that’s the whole point of it. It’s currently the world’s largest database of food.

On an unrelated note, I watched the entire second season of Downton Abbey today, and have typed this whole post in a British accent. Blueberry was pronounced “blue-brie.” I know it shows.